Synopsis

A junior high school gym is set up to host the county spelling finals.
Winners from local elementary and middle schools begin to arrive
and check in with the bee's long-time hostess—and Former champion—Rona
Lisa Pereti. Audience volunteers are also welcomed to the stage.
A glitch: Speller Olive Ostrovsky does not have her entrance Fee;
she hopes her father will set there soon to straighten it out. Vice
Principal Douglas Panch of Lake Hemingway-Dos Passos Junior High
is announced as the day's word pronouncer - he's a last minute substitute
for an ailing superintendent. Panch has a dubious track record at
the bee but will try to do better this time. The rules are explained.
When a speller misses a word a bell will ring - ding - and the speller
must immediately leave the stage, escorted, by the bee's coumfort-counsellor,
Mitch Mahoney.

The Spelling Begins

Ten-year old Logainne Schwarzandsrubeniere, whose two dads have
helped her train for the event, gets through "strabismus' despite
a potentially incapacitating lisp. Leaf Coneybear, second runner
up in his own bee, surprises himself and his family in the audience
by spelling his word correctly. Olive interrupts her own spelling
to protect the chair she saved for her dad. Soon spellers begin to
fall. Chip Tolentino, lost year's Putnam champion, leads spellers
in grumbling about the inconsistent word level, a point brought home
when Marcy Park, Catholic school representative, nails 'phylactery'
and the very next speller gets 'telephone'.

Leof gets another word he's never heard of and amazes himself by
finding the correct spelling within. But no one has a technique as
remarkable as that of the boy with the rare mucus membrane disorder,
William Barffe, who spells his words out with his foot.

As spellers continue to fall, Chip is distracted by Leaf's sister
in the audience. Why did she have to wear such a fuzzy sweater? Losing
concentration Chip backtracks to spell a word correctly — in
violation of the rules, which state that you, cannot adjust letters
once spoken. Comfort counselor Mitch Mahoney marvels at the odd anthropology
of the event- and tries to teach future eliminated spellers to exit
with some dignity.

AF the snack break, Chip is made to help wth the PTA bake sale. Humiliated,
he begins throwing snacks into the audience. He also throws peanuts
at the highly allergic William Barfee. Olive comes William's aid but
unused to sympathy, he initially responds with hostility.

Really the only thing to do is to continue spelling but 'Schwarzy'
first takes a moment to thank her dads. Round after round of spelling
continues in fast-motion. These last five are fierce and furious spellers;
no one's getting anything wrong. Park doesn't even hesitate, Barfee's
foot is unfailing and Coneybear is realising the impossible: that he
might, after all, be smart, until "ding"
Leaf misses on yeoman, all-too-reasonably leaving out the "e".
The bell's echo sends him off — in his own mind, undefeated.

The final four. Miss Park looks unbeatable. After all, Rona tells
us, this girl speaks five languages. But Marcy's had enough. Sick of
being presented as the perfect student; she launches into a protest,
which at once shows off her skills and bemoans their tyranny in her
life. Only Jesus' unexpected entrance gives this parochial school girl
permission to liberate herself from perfection.

Down to three and Schwarzy wants it bad. But Panch is tired of all
the questions, and loses his temper at her thorough questioning. One
of Schwarzy's dads runs onstage, ostensibly to comfort his distraught
daughter, but really to plant sabotage — the target is Barfee's
magic foot. Meanwhile Olive's father leaves a message with Rona: he's
stuck at work, and will have to discuss the entrance fee later. Olive
struggles to keep spelling. On Barfee's turn, the foot sabotage half
works — he encounters a sticky substance that derails his technique — but
he rallies and finds he can spell without the foot.

Down to two: Olive and Barfee. As they go head to head, they find
joy in their sense of competence and connection. And Barfee has a new,
unsettling experience: worrying about someone else. Still, only one
can take home the two hundred dollar savings bond — and in the
end it is William who outspells them all and tearfully accepts cheque
and trophy. Panch then announces a surprise runner-up cash prize. It
happens to match the amount of the entrance fee that Olive still owes — and
it happens to came out of Panch's own wallet — but Olive, none
the wiser, is thrilled. Rona gets the gesture — and her acknowledgment
makes even vice Principal Panch feel like a winner.

Rachel Sheinkin

Musical Numbers

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Company

The Spelling Rules/my Favourite Moment of the Bee - Panch,
Rona and Spellers